I’m sure one of the first things Gabriel noticed about Ohioans this Fall/ Winter was our obsession with discussing the weather. It’s true we frequently discuss weather, but in our defense, the weather is ever changing, and generally proves to be an interesting topic for small talk with friends or strangers.
“Do you talk about the weather in Brazil ?”, I asked him after one particularly dramatic account by my husband regarding dipping temperatures.
“No, never”, he said.
“I guess I understand that”, I added. “Why would you talk about how perfect the weather is, if it’s perfect every day”.
This winter has been exceptionally volatile with deep-freeze wind chills and heavy snow storms. For someone used to 80F/ 25C and sunny, Ohio winter has proven to be quite a shock.
“In Brazil, we never thought this temperature could be anywhere, but like the North Pole”, Gabriel told me one day when the high was -3F.
“I know”, I responded. “It’s horrible, but for some reason we put up with it”.
This past week, Gabriel discovered one benefit of putting up with Ohio winters. Snow Days!
For the first time, Gabriel experienced joy mixed with heavy anticipation as we checked, then re-checked, the school closings list, waiting….For the first time, he understood the ecstasy of receiving a magical 411 phone call from the district Superintendent, even at 5:00am, announcing his regret at having to shut down school for the day. He, like most Ohio teens, embraced the reality of a “forced” pajama day of movies, video games, and sleeping in. Snow? Cold weather? No problem because there is no school!
These past two weeks, our quota of snow days has been met for the year. My teenage daughter found, and re-tweeted, “5 day school week? That’s so 2013!” We are in amazement at the constant onslaught of cold, snow, and time off. No one is regretting the misfortune of living in extreme January Ohio this year. We may not have the beach. We may not have 25C and sun, but We. Have. Snow days!
Keeping warm in Ohio—
An International Family 